14452 - Agricoltural Hydraulic,Irrigation And Drainage

Learning outcomes

After teaching, students acquire the knowledge necessary for the design and the technical-economic management of irrigation and drainage. In particular, the student is able to design the plant components of irrigation is under pressure to free surface and siphon, the flow meters and managing the water resource with the most appropriate criteria and with the most appropriate irrigation methods and systems drainage, including the assessment of their economic costs.

Course contents

Prerequisites

The student that attends this teaching should have a basic knowledge of the fundamentals of physics, some notions of agronomy and agro-meteorology  and economics related to cost components. Such knowledge and skills are provided by the teachings supplied during the first and second year of the 3-year degree.

Content of the learning unit 1. (24 hours)
1. Elements of hydrodynamic and hydrostatic-pressure losses in the continuous and localized pressure pipes and free surface
2. Design of the various plant components of a irrigation system from the pumping station to the supply wings
3. Design of  non pressurized  pipes by means of different criteria
4. Siphons
5. Flow measurements devices for the non pressurized and pressurized pipes
 Acquired skills unit 1
The student will have the skills to design the main plant components of the irrigation systems and to design not pressurized pipelines (ditches and channels) as well as to be able to dimension a siphon pipeline and calculate the flow in pressurized and not pressurized pipes.

Contents of the learning unit 2. (24 hours)
1. Importance of water in agriculture, meaning of irrigation and drainage.

2.Surface and underground drainage: parameters, design, selection criteria-drainage costs – reclamation by means of drainage pumping
3.Irrigation: hydraulic -agronomic parameters  of the irrigation, collective water delivery
4.Gravitational methods: features and calculation parameters, types of plant and plant patterns, selection criteria
5.Pressurized methods: sprinkling irrigation by means of pipes and sprinklers and self-propelled hose reel machines, rangers and pivot: selection criteria, characteristics
6.Microirrigation: plant characteristics, hydraulic parameters-Types of filters and selection criteria-
7.Fertirrigation: types and parameters calculation-
8.Installation and operation cost of irrigation methods

 

Acquired skills Unit 2
The student knows the proper technical and economic  approach about the subjects discussed in the course.
He is able to suggest and design a drainage system both surface and underground.
He knows the remediation techniques by means of pumping to compare the collective management of drainage water.
He knows the technical-agronomic and economic characteristics of different irrigation methods both gravitational and pressurized
He can choose the best suitable irrigation methods for different farms
He knows the criteria for the calculation of the main irrigation parameters
It has enough elements to calculate the parameters of the various systems of collective water delivery
He is aware about the relation between irrigation costs and yield response to irrigation to assess the degree of effectiveness of irrigation

Content of the learning unit 3. practical application (32 hours)

a) Examples of the design of irrigation systems pressurized and not pressurized, siphons and flow measurements devices
b) Tutorial for the assessment of irrigation and drainage parameters
c) Exercises on practical management of various irrigation systems, gravitational and pressurized with a focus on sprinkling by means of hose reel machines and microirrigation
d) Exercise on the provision of irrigation schedules in the water collective delivery by means of shifts.
e) Exercise on the economic aspects of irrigation
f) Examples taken from websites of the Reclamation Consortium Canale Emiliano-Romagnolo (Tecnirri and IRRInet)
g) Possible study visits

Skills acquired units 3
The student gains experience about design and management of real irrigation and drainage case studies at farm level and collective level, and about the use of software related to the calculation of irrigation lines and the choice of self-propelled hose reel machines.

 

Readings/Bibliography

-Teacher lecture notes on "Agricultural Hydraulics, Irrigation and Drainage" (in pdf format on the web or copied at the Central Library) and material delivered in class
 Texts for further information:
 -C.Costantinidis-General and Applied Hydraulics agrarian-Edagricole
 -Dissemination Center-Agricultural Irrigation Methods-Edagricole
 -Emilia-Romagna Microirrigazione-Department of Agriculture-Series Studies and Research
Louis-Gardens-underground drainage-tube Edagricole
-Angel-Trisoldi L'Irrigazione-Edagricole
-A.Capra, B.Scicolone: ​​ Design and Management of irrigation systems, Edagricole
-Canale Emiliano Romagnolo: Website

Teaching methods

The course is divided into three teaching units: the first consists of lectures followed by exercises of application of the concepts presented in the design of irrigation and drainage. The second module covers the topics of drainage and irrigation, the third part will include practical exercises of the design and management of drainage and irrigation.

Assessment methods

The evaluation of learning is through a final oral exam (lasting about 30 minutes) which will be composed by few questions on hydrostatics, on the design of the different components of an irrigation system and the components of a channel, of a siphon and flow measurement devices, as well as some questions about drainage and irrigation systems. The exam will also include the possibility to solve some calculations about the assessment of irrigation parameters. It is also possible have a mid-term exam on individual learning units.

Teaching tools

Overhead projector, PC, projector, Internet web sites

Office hours

See the website of Attilio Toscano